Unexpected Visitor

Check out who stopped in and left a remark in my combox (from Monday Madness IV):

"One of the challenges in preaching is to attract and gain attention. This was service of around 300 with lots of children present. The point of the sermon was that we can have confidence in the truth of the resurrection of Christ because of the eye witness accounts in the Scripture. The roller skating illustration was only to make the point that if 300 people saw it happen in church and reported it outside - then however unusual the event is - then it is likely to have been true. It was not a gimmick, or publicity stunt - simply an illustration of a message. Church must allow times of mystery, silence and fearful awe and reference of God, but also we need to think of creative ways of connecting to people in order to communicate the message."

Roger Preece
Vicar of Bowdon

Here was my reply, in which I tried to be charitable:

"Dear Vicar Preece - I'm honored that you came to my humble blog. And while I try not to criticize priests (whether Anglican or Catholic), wouldn't the point have been made if you just talked about roller blading in Church rather than actually doing it? People have vivid imaginations and would have gotten the point. My concern is, whether the congregation is Catholic or Anglican, is that the purpose of attending is to worship the transcendant God and not worry too much about making the preaching attractive and attention-getting. Your job is to preach the Truth, not to "connect" to the people. Those who are disposed to hearing the Truth will hear it, and God will be pleased with your faithful attempts in doing so."

Here's something I found interesting. He found AoftheA through Google, after searching 'Roger Preece "skating"'. I'm wondering if he was checking to see how much publicity his skating stunt had gotten - so was it a mere "illustration of a message", or something else? Thoughts? (please be charitable!)